| Michel Danino: On Indian History In the last few years, Indian history has been much in the news. Not, however, in an effort to make better sense of India’s past, of her behaviour as a civilization, of the specificities of Indian culture, nor also to integrate new findings into an ever-growing perspective, but mostly for polemical, political, or sensational reasons that only end up creating more confusion and driving us farther away from the central issue—how to deal with Indian history? Ideology barges in and a finer perception of India tiptoes out. In the end, we Indians are the victims, more particularly the students. As long as the teaching of history is manipulated and remote-controlled, it will stifle creativity and students will continue to look at the discipline as a chore pushed down their throats—a “sleeping pill,” as some of them once told me. Mathematics might be another, but then, you need it to get a good job—what do you need history for? That, in fact, is the whole question. Unless the syllabus, the textbook, and the teacher can together convince the student that history opens a window onto Indian culture and heritage and an understanding of ourselves—in short, a meaningful perspective of India—the answer to the question will merely be to get a few marks at the exam. If there is nothing more to it, we might as well scrap the whole discipline, as a few state governments have indeed suggested recently. India’s history is not about dates and kings and bloodsheds. It is about bringing out the life and culture of the Indian people, also the bend of the nation, the way India reacted (and continues to react) to crises and obstacles, adapted to new conditions, the way it has absorbed and given, changed but also remained the same. In a word, what makes India ‘India’? Two Views of India If we pursue this research, we will soon find that we have to deal with two diametrically opposite perspectives of India. One of them was aptly summarized by the great historian R. C. Majumdar: So far as the available evidence goes, there cannot be the slightest doubt that Indian civilization manifests itself in a way and a form very different from that with which we are familiar in the rest of the world. We have to consequently approach the history of India in a different spirit, and adopt a different scale of values in order to appraise her culture and civilization. The wars and conquests, the rise and fall of empires and nations, and the development of political ideas and institutions should not be regarded as the principal object of our study, and must be relegated to a position of secondary importance. On the other hand, more stress should be laid upon philosophy, religion, art, and letters, the development of social and moral ideas, and the general progress of those humanitarian ideals and institutions which form the distinctive feature of the spiritual life of India and her greatest contribution to the civilization of the world.[1] Rabindranath Tagore, whose view of India and Indian history is rarely highlighted, wrote a seminal essay entitled The History of Bharatavarsha. In it, he struck a chord parallel to Majumdar’s: The history of India that we read and memorize for our examinations is really a nightmarish account of India. Some people arrive from somewhere and the pandemonium is let loose. And then it is a free-for-all: assault and counter-assault, blows and bloodletting. … If Bharatavarsha is viewed with these passing frames of dreamlike scenes, smeared in red, overlaid on it, the real Bharatavarsha cannot be glimpsed. These histories do not answer the question, where were the people of India? Our real ties are with the Bharatavarsha that lies outside our textbooks. If the history of this tie for a substantially long period gets lost, our soul loses its anchorage. After all, we are no weeds or parasitical plants in India. Over many hundreds of years, it is our roots, hundreds and thousands of them, that have occupied the very heart of Bharatavarsha. But, unfortunately, we are obliged to learn a brand of history that makes our children forget this very fact. It appears as if we are nobody in India…[2] Such a conception was also that of Swami Vivekananda,[3] of Sri Aurobindo, who presented us with a comprehensive formulation of Indian civilization in his Foundations of Indian Culture,[4] of Sister Nivedita,[5] John Woodroffe,[6] Ananda Coomaraswamy,[7] K. M. Munshi,[8] and a host of other profound thinkers and scholars. On the other hand, we have what I venture to call the “colonial-Marxist” perspective. The hyphenation is justified, as we find that in India’s case, Marxist historiography accepts in practice the broad framework of the erstwhile colonial historians, even as it throws new insights, some of which (in the economic and social fields in particular) are often valuable. Among the main features of this perspective, we should certainly mention: 1. A purely materialistic, social and economic definition of man. Since no spiritual dimension is acknowledged, India’s religious and spiritual currents, movements, and evolution are interpreted purely from a materialistic standpoint. 2. Indian spirituality and religion (labelled “animism,” “idolatry”…) are therefore of no value, as are India’s great spiritual figures. To a Marxist historian, Swami Vivekananda’s or Sri Aurobindo’s or Tagore’s understanding of Indian history and civilization is of no relevance. 3. India’s cultural continuity and identity are basically denied. Artificial breaks are introduced in time (for instance the imaginary Aryan Invasion of India) or in society (the Brahmins vs. the rest of India). We do hear of India’s “DIVERSITY” but not of what constitutes its “UNITY.” India’s cultural cement, for instance the reach of epic and Puranic lore to the remotest corner of India, is not thought to be a worthwhile object of study. 4. A gross overemphasis on the caste system: Most social phenomena are interpreted in terms of caste. Yet the relative stability and economic prosperity provided by the caste system to Indian society is overlooked. Also, the substantial role of Islam and British rule in hardening the caste system is glossed over, while Hinduism is portrayed as the spread or sometimes the imposition of “Brahminism,” ignoring its organic interchange with local cultures. 5. India’s civilizational achievements and contributions to the world in terms of science, technology, philosophy, spirituality, religion, art, literature, scripts, etc., are consistently underemphasized. 6. Semitic religions and societies are gently dealt with, while the defects of Indian society are magnified and invariably put down to Hinduism. 7. India’s history is squeezed into a Eurocentric framework through an artificial and alien terminology: “barbarism,” “feudalism,” “class war”…. Failing to work out an Indian historiography of India, this perspective in effect promotes a de-Indianized view of Indian history, which can logically lead only to the atomization of India, since one is left to wonder what can hold together this bewildering medley. Themes in Indian Civilization In this paper, I propose to highlight a few key themes that naturally emerge from Indian history and archaeology. In themselves, they are by no means new, so I will not go over the “classical” evidence supporting them, which can be found in many studies.[9] I will only attempt to show how they receive fresh and sometimes crucial support from findings made in recent years. Which of the two above perspectives of India those new findings tend to endorse should be clear enough. 1. Antiquity and Continuity Antiquity and continuity are possibly the most striking characteristics of Indian civilization, and they have been amply confirmed by archaeological evidence. Among India’s most ancient settlements, Mehrgarh, an important site in Baluchistan, at the foot of the Bolan Pass, has been excavated in the last decades. Spread over 250 hectares, it has brought to light one of the earliest farming communities on the subcontinent, dating back to 7000 BC; by 6000 BC, it had “a veritable agricultural economy solidly established,”[10] in the words of French excavator Jean-François Jarrige. More importantly, Mehrgarh has revealed a continuous sequence of cultures spanning some 4,000 years and leading to the “mature” Indus-Sarasvati civilization and beyond. More such sites may yet come to light, giving us a better understanding of the growth of civilization on Indian soil. One possible candidate may emerge from the Gulf of Khambat, where in the last few years the National Institute of Ocean Technology[11] has been collecting artefacts from the sea bed, with pottery and wood pieces yielding dates between 3000 and 10,000 years old.[12] Moreover, sonar photography has revealed strangely geometric patterns along a paleo-river bed that resemble settlements. While the site does seem to hold potential, such patterns can also arise out of natural formations; we should therefore urge caution pending systematic excavations of the sea bed. Not far away, the submerged city of Dwaraka, discovered in the early 1980s, is yet to be explored systematically, even though it could hold a key to the thorny issue of the historicity of the Mahabharata. All that we can safely assert is that it dates back to 1500 BC at the least.[13] Going a little further back in time, sites of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization, the first on Indian soil (2600–1900 BC for its mature phase), have yielded many artefacts that evidence a cultural continuity with later Indian civilization, especially in the Gangetic region. For instance, ornaments (including craft techniques), games (from spinning tops to dice), traditions (red pigment at the parting of the hair), the use of conch shells for libations as well as trumpeting, the ritual use of water for purification (as seen at Mohenjo-daro’s Great Bath), religious symbols (the svastika, the trishul, the pipal, etc.), important modes of worship such as fire, mother-goddess, lingam, etc.[14] It is therefore hardly surprising to read such statements under the pens of archaeologists: John Marshall: “The [Harappan] religion is so characteristically Indian as hardly to be distinguished from still living Hinduism…. One thing that stands out both at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa is that the civilization hitherto revealed at these two places is not an incipient civilization, but one already age-old and stereotyped on Indian soil, with many millennia of human endeavour behind it…”[15] Jonathan M. Kenoyer: “Since the discovery of the Indus cities, scholars have made comparisons and contrasts between the Indus cities and later urban cultures of the subcontinent. Current studies of the transition between the two earthly urban civilizations claim that there was no significant break or hiatus.”[16] Jim Shaffer: “The previous concept of a ‘Dark Age’ in South Asian archaeology is no longer valid.”[17] Conclusions: The average history textbook greets its readers with a fragmented, confused and incoherent idea of India; they learn nothing of the unifying virtue of Indian culture, of its synthesizing (not “composite”) nature, its unparalleled continuity, least of all its spiritual foundations and its achievements. By contrast, other nations, with an often much more limited heritage than India’s, find nothing wrong in nurturing pride for it in their students. In 1918, Sri Aurobindo diagnosed the problem of Indian education thus: “The full soul rich with the inheritance of the past, the widening gains of the present, and the large potentiality of the future, can come only by a system of National Education. It cannot come by any extension or imitation of the system of the existing universities with its radically false principles, its vicious and mechanical methods, its dead-alive routine tradition and its narrow and sightless spirit”.[54] Together, the above themes offer a pedagogic alternative, in that they paint a living and inspiring, if incomplete, picture of Indian civilization. An innovative teaching of Indian history could organize its material around such “master ideas,”[55] as Sri Aurobindo called them, rather than follow a chronological line that churns out events pell-mell and without an atom of relevance to the life of today’s young Indian. This bookish approach must be done away with. Instead, an intelligent pedagogy could include, besides the above thematic approach, visits to archaeological or historical sites and museums, and even involve students in a local excavation or restoration; it could encourage the use of visual and multimedia material, good maps, etc. It should also encourage research projects based on the above or other themes, for instance the lives of a few great Indians – kings, but also scientists, saints, sages, poets, freedom fighters etc. – so as to show in what ways they have embodied the Indian genius. As a result, a student would acquire a far more concrete, often visual, contact with Indian culture and would grasp its evolution rather than a mass of scattered, unrelated and often outdated data. The gain would be enormous. No longer an isolated (and largely meaningless) individual in time and space, the student becomes part of the great stream of Indian civilization. Identity – the dreaded word of today’s scholarship – would also crystallize, but a self-confident, generous, creative identity in tune with the universe. Is it a sin to celebrate India’s symphony, while acknowledging a few false notes? The issue now facing India’s history is not some dubious “detoxification,” but nothing less than its decolonization and, in reality, its demoronization. Let us end this brief journey through Indian civilization with this profound observation of Sister Nivedita: “India, as she is, is a problem which can only be read by the light of Indian history. Only by a gradual and loving study of how she came to be, can we grow to understand what the country actually is, what the intention of her evolution, and what her sleeping potentiality may be”.[56] References & Notes: [1] The History and Culture of the Indian People (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1951), vol. 1, p. 42. [2] Rabindranath Tagore, The History of Bharatavarsha, available online at www.ifih.org [3] Swami Vivekananda, Lectures from Colombo to Almora (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1992). [4] The Foundations of Indian Culture, vol. 14 in Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1972) [5] Sister Nivedita, Footfalls in Indian History (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1990) [6] John Woodroffe, Is India Civilized? (Madras: Ganesh & Co., 1918) [7] Essays in National Idealism (1910, reprinted Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1981); Art and Swadeshi (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1994) [8] K. M. Munshi, Akhand Hindustan (Bombay: New Book Co., 1942); also his introduction to The History and Culture of the Indian People [9] The Cultural Heritage of India (Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, 1958-2001, 6 vols.), The Wonder That Was India by A. L. Basham (Calcutta: Rupa & Co., 3rd ed, 1981), A Cultural History of India, ed. A. L. Basham (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1975-1983), India and World Civilization by D. P. Singhal (Michigan State University Press, 1969), L’Inde classique by Louis Renou and Jean Filliozat (2 vols., French) [10] Jean-François Jarrige, “De l’Euphrate à l’Indus,” Dossiers Histoire et Archéologie (Dijon, December 1987), p. 84 [11] Details and photographs: www.niot.res.in/m3/arch/index.htm [12] S. Kathiroli, S. Badrinarayanan, D. V. Rao, B. Sasisekaran and S. Ramesh, “Recent Marine Archaeological Finds in Khambat, Gujarat,” Journal of Indian Ocean Archaeology (New Delhi: Centre for Research and Training in History, Archaeology and Paleoenvironment), No. 1, 2004, pp. 141-149 [13] S. R. Rao, The Lost City of Dvaraka (New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1999) [14] Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization (Karachi & Islamabad: Oxford University Press & American Institute of Pakistan Studies, 1998); B. B. Lal, India 1947-1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization; The Sarasvati Flows On: The Continuity of Indian Culture (New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 1998 & 2002); Michel Danino, “The Harappan Heritage and the Aryan Problem,” Man and Environment, vol. XXVIII, No. 1, 2003, pp. 21-32 [15] John Marshall, Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization (London, 1931, 3 vols.), Vol I, p. vi-viii [16] Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, op. cit., p. 180 [17] Jim G. Shaffer, “The Indus Valley, Baluchistan, and Helmand Traditions: Neolithic through Bronze Age,” in Chronologies in Old Worlds Archaeology, ed. Robert W. Ehrich (3rd ed., Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press), vol. I, p. 459 [18] Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, University of Allahabad: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=23873 [19] Rakesh Tewari, “The origins of iron-working in India: new evidence from the Central Ganga Plain and the Eastern Vindhyas,” Antiquity, vol. 77, No. 298, December 2003, pp. 536-544 [20] Rakesh Tewari, “The Myth of Dense Forests and Human Occupation in the Ganga Plain,” Man and Environment, vol. XXIX, No. 2, 2004, p. 113 [21] Photograph in B. B. Lal, Sarasvati Flows On, op. cit. [22] Holger Wanzke, “Axis systems and orientation at Mohenjo-daro,” in Interim Reports, Reports on fieldwork carried out at Mohenjo-daro, vol. II, ed. M. Jansen & G. Urban (Aachen: Aachen University Mission, 1987); Asko Parpola, Deciphering the Indus Script (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed., 2000), p. 201 [23] J. McKim Malville & Lalit M. Gujral, Ancient Cities, Sacred Skies: Cosmic Geometries and City Planning in Ancient India (New Delhi: IGNCA & Aryan Books International, 2000) [24] Baidyanath Saraswati, Lifestyle and Ecology and The Cultural Dimension of Ecology (New Delhi: IGNCA and D. K. Printworld, 1998); Bansi Lal Malla, Trees in Indian Art, Mythology and Folklore (New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2000); Shakti M. Gupta, Plant Myths and Traditions in India (Munshiram Manoharlal, 2001); and series by C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre: The Ecological Traditions of Tamil Nadu (1997), Sacred Trees of Tamil Nadu (1998), Sacred Groves of Tamil Nadu (1998), Sacred Tanks of South India (2002), Temple Tanks of Chennai (2004); also Sanskriti Sangam: Proceedings of First International Conference & Gathering of Elders, Mumbai, 4-9 February 2003 [25] Selected studies on early Indian science: D. M. Bose, S. N. Sen & B. V. Subbarayappa, A Concise History of Science in India (New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy, 1989); Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, History of Science and Technology in Ancient India (Calcutta: Firma KLM, 3 vols., 1986, 1991, 1996); History of Indian Science, Technology and Culture AD 1000-1800, vol. III, part 1 (New Delhi: Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture & Oxford University Press, 1998); A. K. Bag, History of Technology in India (New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy, 1997); S. Balachandra Rao, Indian Mathematics and Astronomy – Some Landmarks (Bangalore: Jnana Deep Publications, 1998); N. Gopalakrishnan, Indian Scientific Heritage (Thiruvananthapuram: Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage, 2000); Dharampal, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century (Hyderabad: Academy of Gandhian Studies, 1971); Indian Science Through the Ages, ed. M. Lakshmi Kumari, parts 1 & 2 (Madras: Vivekananda Kendra Patrika, 1983); George Gheverghese Joseph, The Crest of the Peacock (London: Penguin Books, 2000); S. Parameswaran, The Golden Age of Indian Mathematics (Kerala: Swadeshi Science Movement, 1998); T. S. Bhanu Murthy, A Modern Introduction on Ancient Indian Mathematics (New Delhi: Wiley Eastern Ltd., 1992); T. A. Sarasvati Amma, Geometry in Ancient and Medieval India (New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1999); T. R. N. Rao & Subhash Kak, eds., Computing Science in Ancient India (Louisiana: Center for Advanced Computer Studies, 1998); S. N. Sen & K. S. Shukla, eds., History of Astronomy in India (New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy); S. Balachandra Rao, Indian Astronomy – An Introduction (Hyderabad: Universities Press, 2000); Acharya Praffullachandra Ray, A History of Hindu Chemistry (Kolkata: Shaibya Prakashan Bibhag, centenary edition 2002); B. V. Subbarayappa, ed., Chemistry and Chemical Techniques in India, vol. IV, part 1 (New Delhi: Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture, & Centre for Studies in Civilizations, 1999); School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, Internet resource: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Indexes/Indians.html [26] K. V. Sarma, ed., Science Texts in Sanskrit in the Manuscripts Repositories of Kerala and Tamil Nadu (New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 2002), p. 16 [27] D. T. Emerson, The Work of Jagadis Chandra Bose: 100 Years of MM-Wave Research, www.tuc.nrao.edu/~demerson/bose/bose.html; also http://earlyradiohistory.us/1897tele.htm and www.qsl.net/vu2msy/JCBOSE.htm [28] Probir K. Bondyopadhyay, “Sir J. C. Bose’s Diode Detector Received Marconi’s First Transatlantic Wireless Signal of December 1901 (The ‘Italian Navy Coherer’ Scandal Revisited),” Proceedings of The IEEE, Vol. 86, No. 1, January 1998, pp. 259-285 [29] B. B. Lal, The Earliest Civilization of South Asia (New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 1997), p. 236 [30] Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, “Early City-States in South Asia: Comparing the Harappan Phase and Early Historic Period,” in The Archaeology of Early City-States: Cross-Cultural Approaches, eds. D. L. Nichols and T. H. Charlton (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press), pp. 51-70 [31] Steve Muhlberger, “Democracy in Ancient India,” www.unipissing.ca/department/history/histdem/ [32] The Foundations of Indian Culture, op. cit., p. 329 [33] Sri Aurobindo, On Himself, vol. 26 in Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1972), p. 410 [34] Rabindranath Tagore, The History of Bharatavarsha, available online at www.ifih.org [35] Tagore, “Nationalism in India” (republished New Delhi: Macmillan, 1999), p. 69 [36] M. N. Srinivas, The Cohesive Role of Sanskritization and Other Essays (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989) [37] The Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture, Guwahati [38] Mahabharata in the Tribal and Folk Traditions of India, ed. K. S. Singh (Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1993); Rama-Katha in Tribal and Folk Traditions of India, eds. K. S. Singh & Birendranath Datta (Calcutta: Seagull Books, 1993); Painted Words: an Anthology of Tribal Literature, ed. G. N. Devy (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2002), chapter “Myth” [39] Sandhya Jain, Adi Deo Arya Devata: a Panoramic View of Tribal-Hindu Cultural Interface (Delhi: Rupa, 2004) [40] Jyotindra Jain, “Propitiation of Babo Ind: Survival of the Ancient Cult of India,” in Living Traditions: Studies in the Ethnoarchaeology of South Asia, ed. Bridget Allchin (New Delhi: Oxford & IBH, 1994), p. 13 ff [41] A. V. Balasubramanian, “Social Organisation of Knowledge in India: Folk and Classical Traditions,” paper presented at Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, 27-29 September, 2003 [42] C. Rajendran, “Folk Elements in Kerala’s Sanskrit Theatre,” in Living Traditions of Natyashastra, ed. C. Rajendran (Delhi: New Bharatiya Book Corporation, 2002), p. 117 ff [43] Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2002; John Noble Wilford, New York Times, July 9, 2002 [44] Man and Environment, vol. XXVII No. 1, 2002; Journal of Indian Ocean Archaeology, No. 1, 2004 [45] Peter Berresford Ellis, The Druids (London: Constable, 1995), p. 24 [46] Ian Pearce, website: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Projects/Pearce/index.html [47] George Gheverghese Joseph, The Crest of the Peacock (London: Penguin Books, 2000) [48] K. Chandra Hari, “Genesis of Calculus” [49] Michel Danino, “India’s Impact on French Thought and Literature” (unpublished) [50] Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works (Vol. V, 5th Edition, 1947), p. 77; also Hinduism Today, May-June 2001, and Toby Grotz, www.hinduism.fsnet.co.uk [51] Subhash Kak, The Wishing Tree: The Presence and Promise of India (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2001), pp. 5-8 [52] C. P. Girija Vallabhan, “Indian Influence in the Development of Quantum Mechanics,” www.photonics.cusat.edu/article2.html [53] Fritjof Capra, Uncommon Wisdom, pp. 42-43, quoted at www.vedanta-newyork.org/articles/gita_13_15.htm [54] Sri Aurobindo, “National Education,” New India, April 8, 1918; Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, 1972, 27.505 [55] Sri Aurobindo, The Foundations of Indian Culture, Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, 1972, vols. 14 & 26 [56] Sister Nivedita, Footfalls in Indian History (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1990), p. 6 About the Author: Michel Danino is a long-time student of Indian civilization and has also translated and edited books related to Sri Aurobindo and Mother. He is also the convener of the International Forum for India’s Heritage. Email: micheld@sify.com |
